Recent Tasting Notes

Dry tea scent: pure, white mint. Like wintergreen. I couldn’t really smell the white chocolate, but I did get a couple of beautiful white chocolate chips into my teaball. I’m kind of expecting the white chocolate to melt into my tea and turn it a bit more translucent, but it still appears pretty transparent, if dark.

This tea is like pure, white mint, like the hard ones you get in the restaurant, the texture of chalk, but they slowly melt in your mouth like ice, and when you blow afterwards, you almost expect to see your breath. Those mints.

Since mint is the predominant flavor in a grasshopper, I’d say this one is pretty spot-on as to the flavor. I do kind of wish I was getting the chocolate a bit more. I think it’s there, and I can almost taste it if I try looking for it, but it’s overshadowed by the mint.

This tea makes me think of being wrapped up in winter clothing, playing in deep snow. The fact that it is hot tea against the mint emphasizes that toasty warm feeling of being all wrapped up against the iciness, a beacon of heat against the cold.

Imagine if I cold-brewed this one…

This is another one I may need to try with milk and sugar, to see if it brings out the chocolate a little more. Also, next time, I might separate out the white chocolate chips, and add them directly to the water, rather than inside the tea ball. I mean, I think the melted chocolate would have made it through the mesh, but I’m not entirely certain. I might open up the teaball when I’m done to see whether I see any lumps of chocolate. I do think this will become a favorite – I just need to figure out my favorite way to drink it. :)

Preparation

I got this in a swap and to be honest the idea of this tea doesn’t sound appealing to me.

I’ll say this, it excels in what it was meant for and it would be a fantastic cup for anyone who likes the brisk taste of coffee. This is better than a roasted pear mate I’ve had which is odd to say because I thought I’d say something negative towards this teas’ taste. While I probably wouldn’t purchase it again, I was surprised by deep flavor.

This is actually one that I’ll be reblending because I got a request for it. It wasn’t a request via the Kickstarter campaign, but, a friend of a friend requested it so I’ll probably reblend it sometime after I get all the Kickstarter specialty items finished.

Let it be known that this tea has ingredients that I hate, not just a dislike but hate.
I chose it for a reblend pick with the Kickstarter rewards based off of the reviews I read… I was curious. I brewed this up with some hope as I did not see 200% lemongrass to .02% tea like many companies have done. The tea actually smelled alright so I was like, "dang man, maybe the citrus will be a’ight’

With all that being said, I short brewed this to avoid too much of the stuff I dislike coming out into the liquid. The result was a nice drink that I believe might work as an iced beverage as well. The citrus notes are nice in the tea and the base tea was noticeable. So this is actually the first tea I have ever had a positive experience with that included lemongrass… bu remember, as I eluded to, this blend is balanced well.

Am I out of my Vulcan mind for drinking this with my breakfast? No, because I am not Vulcan :)
Okay… So being in Tokyo this year I was able to taste a lot of genmiacha teas. This tea does more than justice… It has this sweetness that is not too much. I really enjoy the powderyness of this, whatever it is :p I may just have to reup with this coupon!

I can get behind this one, since it’s full of many of my favourite things: a creamy “hay” white tea with the smoother qualities of an oolong, flavoured to taste like baked goods and blackberries. Yep, Crowkettle tea.

Flavoured white teas don’t always seem to have the base thickness and consistency necessary for rich flavourings, but I think this one works out pretty well. The aroma of the liquor alone is alluring, full of fresh blackberry dessert goodness.

This tea makes up for the fact that there are no blackberries to be found in this household right now, except for the huge blackberry that magically appeared in my strainer (bonus). One (berry) definitely feels like many here. Now, I’m off to see if I can get a decent second steep!

Edit: This tasted better when I used a smaller cup with more leaves, and berries. It doesn’t have that “thickness” this time around. Eh. Will play around with it. The first session was really good!

Flavors: Baked Bread, Blackberry, Butter, Cream, Hay

Preparation

I have been meaning to read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams for a while and I WILL read it this year! Soon soon. I have a too-many-books-to-get-to problem like I have a too-many-teas problem. :D This tea is inspired by the PGB drink in the book. I love the graphic on the pouch! I wanted to try it while reading but I have so many pouches I wanted to try it to see if I wanted to swap any. The blend is fine, but like I said so many pouches of it! I didn’t look at the ingredients list right before I tried it, so I could guess what it tasted like. It’s mostly cinnamon to me. And occasionally a flavor that tastes like flat soda. The result tastes like something more bakey when the flat soda doesn’t hit the tongue. Whatever is here doesn’t make the black base too terrible though.AFTER looking at the ingredients WHOA are my tastebuds not getting any of these: any of the three alcohol flavors, any of the many lemon ingredients OR any of the spicy pepper flavors. So maybe this blend fails on that level. Or my tastebuds do.
Steep #1 // 1 tsp // few minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3 min

This is another one of the reblends from the new 52Teas as of July 2015, and I must say it’s my favorite so far – it makes a terrific iced tea, something I drink a LOT of in July. Though there are several lemon-flavor ingredients, the lemon flavors do not overpower the tea – the hojicha is a very, very smooth green tea and the flavor shines through. Not only is it great as iced tea, but it does well chilling overnight in the fridge, which many flavored teas don’t do – in some, the flavoring oils rise to the top and turn bitter if they sit overnight, so they only taste good when freshly iced. This tea, however, does not turn bitter. I make it by the quart and chill it. No sugar needed for my tastes.

Preparation

I am not the biggest fan of this one, but not because the tea is poorly flavored. I just don’t care much for coconut in tea, or banana flavoring. But this is very desserty, and thankfully is drinkable. I appreciated the real coconut flakes, it made the coconut more real tasting and less like weird butter, which I often taste in other coconut teas.

I went into this tea with positive vibes because there was blackberry chunks it in which make me happy, but… the base tea is what brings this tea down. The flavoring might come off as good, but I’m not sure if it is because it shines through the tea or if it’s being held back by the tea.

It’s going to be hard to finish drinking this cup…Edit I give up, i cannot drink this.

I agree which is why I’m not going to be doing Shou Mei teas anymore. I have switched the white tea base to White Peony. This particuar tea started out as a Shou Mei so that’s why I went with it, but after making that first batch, I decided that while I did enjoy the tea that White Peony is simply better.

That’s an awesome idea – I do have some of the Shou Mei left, so I might have to try that to be able to utilize what I do have left because I don’t want to discard it. It’s still good tea. It’s just not as good as White Peony. :)

Okay, how do I write this review?
I’d rather just preform an interpretive dance…

So here’s the thing. This is a great maple oolong, but as far as cheesecake goes it must be a diet cheesecake because it’s not there!
I’m really liking the mapleness that takes over like syrup does on a pancake. Smother that oolong you delicious sweet stuff that makes my tongue happy.

P.S. I’m in a great mood which means I’m OUTTHERE
(to go over 90 I would need a cheesecake taste in it or a renaming of the tea :P)

I’m curious if this one holds up to true, Canadian maple syrup. It doesn’t surprise me the cheesecake is lacking; I’m kind of at a point where I don’t understand why companies attempt it – it always seems to miss the mark.

Thanks to KiwiDelight for sending me a sample of this! I like the chocolate flavor of this blend (and that it’s caffeine-free), but mostly it makes me want to eat real chocolate. Seriously, that’s what I did. I drank half a cup of this and then reached for a chocolate bar. Rice milk does add a nice creaminess that makes for a more enjoyable cup. Overall, it’s ok but not exceptional. Sipdown!

Blunt review:
I am guilty of purchasing tea, and other things, based on name alone; this was one of those purchases. Oolong and melon? Yeah, a must try.
Tonight I decided to bust out my Kickstarter treats from 52Teas and this is my first to try out :)
Honestly, I should have read what was in this because I had this moment of disappointment when I looked at blend. Currently I am in summer mood and dark/baked/roasted oolongs are not as enjoyable but I drank all my TGY :P
This is a personal preference I can get over easily though.

This tea is not broken leaf and the little baby spine (vine) on each leaf is nicely colored to outline the leaf itself. Though, looks are not what appeal to me with tea anymore because I’m all about that mouth feel, taste, and overall connection between mind-body-tea.

This tea has a nice juicy taste to it which is what appeals to me, but to be honest… this tea would be at least twice as good if it used a green oolong as the base. A light tieguanyin with these green cucumber pieces and melon flavoring would be the S***. If 52Teas does a green oolong base with melon, I’m in.

Side notes: Unfortunately while I was transitioning to Japan to finish college 52Teas and Beautiful Taiwan Tea were both doing their Kickstarters… with a few hundred dollars into BTT, I was unable to put more into 52Teas to try more teas; but, I have coupon (puts shades on).

Thank you for the review. I appreciate the notes about the packaging – it was important to me to have the right kind of packaging. We’re still working on a better presentation/overall package for the subscription packages – but that will be at least a couple of months down the road before we’re able to tackle that.

I will definitely consider a TGY with the cucumber and melon flavors in the future – possibly next summer. Cucumber flavors in tea just seems summery to me.

Looking over all the other reviews for this tea, it looks like I had the exact same experience. This was good but not the cheesecake flavor I had hoped for. I more compare this to a sweet creamy lemony treat with a hint of a toasted flavor running thru each sip. Still good tho. Very bright and very delicious. Still a fan even if it isn’t cheesecake tea love!

@Pattea: I’m sorry to hear that you’re having trouble with the cheesecake flavor coming through. I recommend letting the tea cool for a little bit (since it’s a black tea & steeped at a higher temperature, I’d recommend 10 minutes cool time) to allow the flavors to develop a little. I hope that will help the flavors come through a little more for you!

Jillian: yes, it technically is. I don’t know what I was thinking when I typed the above note! (Brain fart. That’s my only excuse.) With a green tea – I would allow at least 5 – 6 minutes cool time minimum!

I love the smell of this tea, it’s so sweet and fragrant. I grow both lemon balm and lemon verbena from time to time and both of them make excellent teas all on their own. They lend a lemon flavour to this blend but one that’s tangy-sweet rather than the sourness you’d get from pure citrus. The houjicha is a good base for this tea with its distinct toasted flavour. However I do wish that there was more cheesecake flavour as I can barely taste it in this cup.

Preparation

I need to preface this review: I had been reading about this company for several months and was wowed by the positive reviews only to find the company was closed (but on the verge of re-opening!) Once they did, I chose my samples wisely and figured I couldn’t go wrong with the highly praised ones. I just had to order from 52teas again after running out of my “Sun & Clouds” sample. 52teas, you are going to cause me to go broke! I can’t resist buy samples of new flavors I think I will love!

And now, this tea. I knew this would be one of the teas I would try if they offered it again. By the time I saw it, I’m guessing the samples were all sold out. SIGH. Let’s be real – $12 is a lot to spend to find out if you even like a tea. So for a couple of days I thought about it, would it be worth it? What if was really good and I missed out? Oh well, I bought it anyways. SO GLAD I did. It’s amazing.

It seriously does taste like hot, walnutt-y banana bread! I drank it so fast. I am going to hoard this, I can tell. =)

Flavors: banana, Butter, Walnut

Preparation

This is a nice soft Banana Oolong. The banana is not artificial tasting and the oolong tastes great. The flavor of the light banana and creamy oolong compliment each other well. I enjoyed 3 steeps of this tea and enjoyed all of them.

Yes, I am aware that this is a note for kiwi cheesecake oolong. If those flavours are what you are searching for I’m afraid you will have to look elsewhere. This is definitely a banana oolong. I have not detected even the slightest hint of kiwi or cheesecake, not even a “crust-esque” flavour.
So I won’t be rating this tea today. As a kiwi cheesecake tea it fails miserably. As a banana oolong it is delectable and dainty. Interesting, isn’t it?

This was saved for my best friend, but she is over every Tuesday and this one was pulled out today. The presentation was fantastic with the blueberries in the blend :)
This is a unique blend, but… it doesn’t actually deliver.

Unfortunately the smell went to the medicinal side at around 40 seconds in :/
The taste is much milder than desired as well.

I had this tea this morning. I will refrain from rating it though. I believe the delight that this tea used to bring with it’s yummy, creamy root beer taste has vanished due to it’s age. It’s a bit sad actually. I wish I had finished it when the flavour was more vibrant and pleasing. I have about one cup left which I will cold brew tonight to see if I can coax some of it’s former spirit back into the leaf.
This makes me fear for my Butiki and RiverTeas. I have been very carefully hoarding what I have left as they are some of my favorites and I cannot acquire any more. I will have to monitor their remaining strength of aroma & flavour so as to not subject them to this fate. Sigh. I wish I didn’t have such worries and I could just order more. :(
Oh well, I am VERY glad to have any at this point. It makes me a lucky lady. :)

Edit: I had this cold brewed and I am happy to say that slightly more flavour came out this way.

I brewed some of this to put in the fridge the other night. This is not a flavor I would think to serve iced mostly because I tend to prefer chocolate-y or creamy flavored teas as hot teas, but this is really yummy iced. It’s like a candy bar – it really curbs that sweet tooth.

I was surprised to end up loving this – when it was breweing, it wasn’t particularly fragrant. But as I take a sip I am really impressed. It does taste very ricey, of course, and the marshmallow flavor is strong. I always add a tablespoon of honey to my pitchers of iced tea, just to give a hint of extra sweetness per cup. It works really well with this blend. I never would have thought I would love icing a flavor like this, but it is one I would reach for over many of my fruity blends.

Preparation

This was one of the last 52Teas blends from Frank and it is pretty darn accurate with flavor! Whatever that unique flavor is that ONLY monkey bread has? This tea has it too! It’s tough to describe that monkey bread flavor, but both the scent of the rooibos from the pouch and the flavor in the cup has it. Liquified monkey bread! The rooibos somehow doesn’t result in a very red cup, but the rooibos is a great choice to pair with this flavor. The second steep was even more like monkey bread and full of flavor. With the second steep I noticed a hint of cinnamon that wasn’t in the first cup. So this gets a rating of 90 for being super accurate monkey bread! One of the most accurate 52teas flavors in a while.
Steep #1 // just boiled // 1-2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // few minute steep